Frank,

I would look at the bushings for the upper control arms first.   Bentley
tells how to see if they are worn, but the easy way is to unbolt the upper
ball joint and see if anything is loose.   I'd bet that either the control
arm bushings or the upper ball joint (s) are bad.  Neither are hard to
replace (assuming you replace the whole upper control arm.)   Someone on
the list (Ron Salmon at Bus Depot, or maybe Kyle Wade) had upper control
arms for sale at a very good price not too long ago, and I replaced them on
my 87, along with upper ball joints, and the clunking is miraculously gone.

For the record, Unca Joel said it was probably the bushings.  I said Nah,
it sounds like ball joints,  I know what worn ball joints sound like.  But
he was at least 80% right, cause the bushings had noticeable play.   Maybe
the ball joints were worn too (a little loose anyway).   I replaced them
anyway.   Made me feel better.  Check the bushings first.

Dave

At 01:00 PM 12/31/70, Frank Herzig wrote:
>My 85 Vanagon with 180K miles has a thump when I hit any minor bump in the
>road. It sounds like something hitting the frame under the passenger's seat.
>Any thoughts? Ball Joints? How do I check?
>Thanks
>Frank Herzig
>
>